In any in-person shopping excursion, purchased goods, even if they are to be delivered, must be transported from the point of purchase to the desired location of the purchaser (for example, his or her home). When delivering purchases to a house, it is often a simple matter of transporting the goods in a vehicle to the home, and from the vehicle into the home, with the journey from vehicle to house being relatively small. In such instances, carrying bagged items in an overloaded and physically stressful manner, or making multiple trips, is minimally dangerous or inconvenient.
In contrast, some homes, notably condominiums or other multi-unit dwellings are located a great distance from any related parking facility. Further, the journey from vehicle to unit is often broken up into multiple segments delineated by points of controlled access. For example, there is a distance from the car to an elevator area (with a fob or key access point therebetween). There is also the elevator ride, with artificially increased downforces due to the upward acceleration and movement of the elevator. Lastly, there is at least one segment from elevator to unit, with key or fob access needed to gain entry, perhaps between each stage of the journey.
These settings do not lend themselves to easy carriage of any substantial loads. Firstly, the total distance from unit to vehicle, and the time to navigate the included barriers, renders multiple trips impractical. Secondly, the weight of the load (e.g., weekly groceries for 1-2 people) renders lengthy carriage rather physically onerous, increasing likelihood of tripping, falling, muscle, soft tissue, or other injuries. Further, as population demographics skew to the more aged, apartment and condominium populations can be expected to rise. This is because persons in this demographic may be moving from larger, family dwellings to smaller and more centrally located housing. In addition, more aged persons may require access to carrying assistance devices in even greater numbers, and with even greater ease of access, than may be the case with younger persons.
It is also increasingly common for consumers to make environmentally conscious choices including owning and reusing containers to carry groceries and the like. Many such containers are designed to themselves carry more cargo than, for example, a single plastic bag; however, this does not address the issues noted above. Indeed, if multiple such containers are needed, they can prove even more unwieldy than a plurality of plastic bags, thereby reducing any advantages of a consolidated load. This type of unwieldy carriage can increase risks of damage to various grocery or other items due to dropping, crushing or other sources of trauma leading to damage (in addition to physical risks noted above).
As such, there exists a need to provide a means of conducting purchased goods from a vehicle to a dwelling whilst minimizing strain on the carrying party, and facilitating easy transitions of such products, thereby alleviating or eliminating one or more of the aforementioned problems